Kalani Sitake faced Notre Dame 32 years ago today — as a freshman fullback for BYU

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The late and legendary LaVell Edwards picked up 257 wins in his 29-year head coaching career, but a victory that stands out a little more than most of the others occurred on this day 32 years ago.

On Oct. 15, 2004, Edwards’ BYU Cougars stunned Notre Dame 21-14 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana, a surprise win that the Hall of Fame coach would later call one of the most significant of his career.

Current BYU football coach Kalani Sitake — who will guide No. 8 BYU against No. 2 Notre Dame on Saturday in Provo — knows all about that breakthrough win, which came after the Irish had defeated BYU by scores of 42-16 and 45-20 in the first two matchups between the faith-based institutions.

That’s because Sitake was there.

Known as Kalani Fifita-Sitake back then, BYU’s 11-year coach made the trip to one of the cathedrals of college football as a freshman fullback and watched in awe as Jamal Willis ran 2 yards for the go-ahead touchdown and John Walsh threw a two-point conversion pass to Hema Heimuli to give BYU the seven-point win.

“So I was fortunate to play in this game when I was a freshman way back in 1994. I know I’m an old man, but that’s OK,” said Sitake, now 51. “It was against (legendary Notre Dame coach) Lou Holtz, and being there in South Bend was a great experience.”

Sitake did not record a stat in that game and played sparingly in 1994. But after a two-year mission to Oakland for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he rejoined the program in 1998 and was a three-year starter under Edwards.

“I’m so glad that we have Notre Dame on the schedule, and am really looking forward to the competition, and the connection with their fans,” Sitake said Monday. “I think it’s going to be a lot of fun this week, and it’s going to be a great game on Saturday. I have tons of respect for that program, the way they do things, and am really excited for the opportunity for us to play them.”

While Sitake is 1-0 against Notre Dame as a player, he is 0-1 against the Irish as a head coach and 0-1 against the Irish as an assistant coach, having lost to Notre Dame 28-3 in 2010 when he was a defensive coordinator at Utah under head coach Kyle Whittingham.

Of course, that loss to Notre Dame as BYU’s head coach came four years ago, as the Irish outlasted the Cougars 28-20 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Oct. 8, 2022.

“The (game) in Vegas was a good game,” Sitake recalled Monday. “I think Jaren (Hall) was a little banged-up going into that game, but the competition was good. I think it was a hard-fought game. We ended up losing that game, but I thought it was really good experience for our players.”

“They don’t have a lot of weak links on their team, and they’re very deep, too.”

BYU coach Kalani Sitake on this year's No. 2 Notre Dame team

Obviously, a lot more is on the line in the 10th meeting Saturday in what will be the first top-10 matchup in stadium history. BYU finished the 2022 season with an 8-5 record, while Notre Dame went 9-4 in what was coach Marcus Freeman’s first season as head coach of the Irish.

“I like to think that we’re different as a program and a team now than we were in that game, but so is Notre Dame,” Sitake said. “You can see some of the things that Marcus has done as a head coach. He has a really good staff. I mean, that staff’s amazing. You can tell from watching the film, they’re well coached.”

Notre Dame is a 10-point favorite and has won 16 straight games dating back to last season, all by 10 points or more.

“They don’t have a lot of weak links on their team, and they’re very deep, too,” Sitake said. “I mean, you have three running backs that can run the ball at any moment. It’s crazy to have that depth, and that’s just the running back position. You can see that they have depth all over at every position, and so for me it’s exciting to see how we match up.

“I know a lot of people are wondering how the matchup’s going to go, and I feel good about our chances,” Sitake continued. “… And if they want to keep playing this game (in the future), I would love to keep doing it as much as possible.”

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